Once Li Mingfu returned home, he immediately informed the two servants.
"I will be in seclusion."
Without wasting time, he ran to his cultivation room.
Li Mingfu swallowed a ration pill and sat down.
He looked into his dantain again. There, the Shadow Qi remained, trying to escape.
"I should have some time to study this Shadow Qi before it escapes my dantain," he muttered.
As he studied the Shadow Qi, he was extra careful as he only had a limited amount.
The way he had separated the Corpse Qi earlier was thanks to his Qi threads.
His threads were extremely pure.
When they touched the Corpse Qi, they burned away the chaotic energy, leaving behind the thin strand of Shadow Qi.
For an entire month, Li Mingfu studied Shadow Qi before he used it all up.
But during that time, he learned several important things.
Shadow Qi was colder than Corpse Qi.
Much quieter and more stable.
Extremely thin in density.
Difficult to detect.
Naturally inclined to hide and avoid being drawn in.
Out of all the Corpse Qi he had gathered, only about one percent could be separated into Shadow Qi.
Li Mingfu sighed.
"At least now I know what I'm looking for…"
But there was one problem.
He could no longer return to the graveyard.
After leaving seclusion, he shared a meal with Little Flower and Little Moon.
Then he resumed his training.
He practiced dagger techniques and movement techniques until midnight.
Under the moonlight sky, he climbed onto the roof of his villa and began cultivating.
This time, he paid extremely close attention to the Qi entering his body.
He stopped the automatic intake of Qi.
Instead, he observed every strand before weaving them into threads.
He allowed the Qi to circulate for only one cycle, then stopped again.
Repeated the process over and over again for one month.
The only time he stopped was for meals, and after the meals, he would find different spots to draw in Shadow Qi.
Finally, after one month, he discovered the problem.
His Qi threads were too pure.
Whenever they touched Shadow Qi, the fragile energy disappeared.
Li Mingfu thought for a long time before coming up with a solution.
His maximum capacity for Qi is twenty-five threads.
So he adjusted his weaving method.
Twenty-four threads for normal Qi.
One thread reserved only for Shadow Qi.
The result of gathering one Shadow Qi thread was very slow, but it proved that his method was working.
The Shadow Qi thread finally remained intact and stable.
However, it only functioned when he actively cultivated.
So Li Mingfu spent another month modifying the process.
Eventually, the thread began collecting Shadow Qi automatically.
Not being satisfied with how slow the Shadow Qi was gathering. He spent another month refining the process further until he could even gather small amounts of Shadow Qi during the daytime.
Drawing Shadow Qi during the daytime when the Sun was out was a challenge.
Li Mingfu could barely feel Shadow Qi, resulting in drawing Shadow Qi during the daytime being painfully slow.
The important part was that it worked automatically. As long as he only used the Shadow Qi for cultivation, the Shadow Qi would be sufficient for one Shadow Qi thread.
Once his body got used to having the presence of the Shadow Qi thread, he also reorganized the Qi thread pathways. The Qi threads usually run in the same cycle over and over.
Now there was one Shadow Qi thread going through every Qi pathway, damaging the pathways and meridians.
The Qi treads had to work extra hard to heal and fix every damage the Shadow Qi thread made.
Damage. Repair. Damage. Repair.
There was some discomfort at first, but as time went on. The discomfort disappeared.
Took him another month to make sure his body understood the whole process before things ran automatically again.
Li Mingfu only had to check once every day to make sure the Shadow Qi thread was running the correct Qi pathways, and the Qi threads were following behind it to heal the pathways and meridians.
If there were any problems, he would adjust and fix them.
Satisfied with this process of strengthening his internal body.
He called out.
"Status."
Name: Li Mingfu
Age: 7
Cultivation: Qi Refinement Stage 2 (25 Threads)
Cultivation Technique: Thousand Thread Qi Weaving Art – Minor (20%)
Martial Art Techniques:
Shadow Drift Step – Minor (40%)
Shadowless Daggers – Minor (90%)
Body Technique:
Black Vein Tempering Scripture – Initial (5%)
Talent: Heaven Defying Luck
Li Mingfu noticed a few changes.
"My age changed…"
He was now seven years old.
He had missed watching the Inner Sect competition this year.
But he didn't care because his progress in the Black Vein Tempering Scripture was far more important.
It had taken many months to form a single Shadow Qi thread, but the results were clear.
He could feel his internal body getting stronger.
For ordinary cultivators, Shadow Qi would cause long-term corrosion.
But Li Mingfu's Qi was purer than normal.
It constantly cleansed the corrosion and healed the damage.
In the future, Li Mingfu planned to either balance the number of Shadow Qi threads and normal Qi threads or combine both types of Qi into a single thread.
But that would require far more time and research.
For now, he had something more important.
The yearly competition for his group was soon.
Before the yearly competition, he wanted to push Shadowless Daggers to the Major Realm.
During dinner, Little Flower and Little Moon shared the latest gossip.
They talked about the results of the recent Inner Sect competition.
Only one person had been replaced.
The lowest-ranked Inner Sect disciple was now Qi Refinement Stage 7.
Li Mingfu nodded calmly.
He wasn't worried.
He still had eight years before reaching that level of competition.
For the next few months, Li Mingfu trained relentlessly.
He borrowed books from the library.
While one servant read the book aloud, Li Mingfu practiced his dagger techniques.
Day after day.
Night after night.
Three days before the competition, Shadowless Daggers reached the Major Realm.
A huge amount of information flooded into his mind.
This time, the knowledge was far deeper.
He instantly understood every flaw in his previous training.
Once the information settled, Li Mingfu closed his eyes and began organizing his thoughts.
Then he drew his daggers.
The movement was faster.
Completely silent.
If someone doesn't pay extremely close attention, they wouldn't even notice he had drawn his daggers.
For the next two days, he tested the technique.
Little Flower held up a wooden log in front of her.
Little Moon stood nearby to observe.
Li Mingfu simply walked around Little Flower.
Back and forth.
Sometimes passing beside her.
Sometimes behind her.
After a while, he stopped.
"Check the log."
Little Flower looked confused.
"Young Master… all you did was walk around."
Then she looked at the log.
Her eyes widened.
The entire surface was covered with cut marks.
Little Flower was shocked.
"How is that possible?!"
"I didn't even see you attack!"
Little Moon also shook her head.
"Young Master… I couldn't see it either."
"I only noticed your robe moving slightly. I thought it was just because you were walking."
Li Mingfu laughed.
If Qi Refinement Stage 2 cultivators couldn't see it…
Then he would definitely win the competition again.
Some disciples in his group had only just reached Stage 3.
Many were still stuck at Stage 1 or 2.
Li Mingfu said confidently,
"Tomorrow, come watch me win again."
Li Mingfu was happy with his improvements, so he cooked up a big dinner fest.
While enjoying dinner together, he told them fairy tales and stories from Earth.
Of course, he described them as dreams.
The two servants listened with fascination.
To them, their young master had an incredible imagination.
The next morning, after a quick breakfast, they headed toward the competition arena.
A huge crowd had already gathered.
While standing among the disciples, Li Mingfu overheard the latest gossip.
One of the top-grade disciples had come to compete.
He reached Qi Refinement Stage 4.
Everyone believed he would win.
Many disciples hoped to avoid fighting him to secure better rankings.
Li Mingfu didn't even know who the person was.
Only that it was a boy.
It had been two years since he had last seen top-grade disciples from his batch.
Back then, he had been too busy focusing on his own training to pay attention.
Li Mingfu also noticed something else.
There were more Elders present this year.
Many senior disciples had also come to watch.
They're all here for that top-grade genius," Li Mingfu mumbled.
The competition began.
Disciples were split into groups.
At least ten arenas were operating at the same time.
Everyone had to fight every opponent in their group once.
Li Mingfu found his assigned arena.
He glanced toward the crowd.
Little Flower and Little Moon were waving enthusiastically.
He waved back before focusing again.
Thanks to his improved perception, he could observe multiple arenas at once without any difficulty.
Eventually, it was his turn.
Li Mingfu calmly stepped onto the stage.
The referee raised his hand.
"Begin!"
His opponent immediately began running around the arena, trying to confuse him.
Li Mingfu simply stood still.
The opponent thought he saw an opening and attacked from behind.
He charged and threw a punch filled with Qi.
He thought he had won as Li Mingfu didn't even move or block.
The next thing he knew, Li Mingfu was suddenly standing behind him.
"You lost."
The opponent frowned.
"You didn't even hit me!"
"How did I lose?!"
Li Mingfu replied calmly.
"Check your neck."
The opponent touched his neck.
His fingers became wet.
He looked down.
Blood.
His eyes widened.
"How…?"
Then the pain arrived.
The cut was shallow.
Nothing serious, a quick application of healing ointment would fix it.
The opponent swallowed and sighed.
"I admit defeat."
He jumped off the stage to treat the wound.
The referee was still stunned.
After a moment, he announced,
"Winner… Li Mingfu."
Li Mingfu quietly stepped off the arena.
Then waited calmly for his next match.